2016 (rio) Summer Olympics opening ceremony Live

 Watch 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony Live NBC-Networks

The creative directors for the ceremony will be Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Thomas and Andrucha Waddington. Deborah Colker, Brazil's most celebrated choreographer, will prepare a cast of over 6000 volunteers who will dance in the opening ceremony, of which the rehearsals started at the end of May 2016.

Meirelles stated that the ceremonies for the 2016 Summer Olympics would have a significantly lower budget than those of other recent Olympics, totalling only 10% of the total budget for the ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Explaining his rationale, he explained that he would be "ashamed to waste what London spent in a country where we need sanitation; where education needs money. So I'm very glad we're not spending money like crazy. I'm happy to work with this low budget because it makes sense for Brazil." Meirelles outlined that because of the lower budget, the ceremony will eschew "high-tech" ideas such as moving stages and drones; fellow ceremonies director Leonardo Caetano went on to say that the concept of the ceremony would emphasize "originality" over "luxury", and "compensate with creativity, rhythm and emotion".^[5][6]

On 15 July 2016, it was announced that Anitta, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil would perform during the opening ceremony. Gil and Veloso had also participated as creative advisors for the ceremony. Creative director Daniela Thomas explained that their involvement is meant to reflect the "best" in Brazilian music.^[7] Despite announcing her retirement, Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen will take part in the opening ceremony.

For the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, a major reconstruction project was initiated for the Maracanã Stadium. The original seating bowl, with a two-tier configuration, was demolished, giving way to a new one-tier seating bowl. The original stadium's roof in concrete was removed and replaced with a fiberglass tensioned membrane coated with Polytetrafluoroethylene. The new roof covers 95% of the seats inside the stadium, unlike the former design, where protection was only afforded to some seats in the upper ring and those above the gate access of each sector.

Fernando Meirelles said in September 2015 that the ceremony will be a vision of the country "and what I hope it will become". Meirelles said he will try to steer away from cliches, but not all of them; for example, the carnival has been confirmed to be a part of the ceremony.

The Olympic cauldron will be lit inside the Maracanã. In April 2016, Rio Organizing Committee spokesperson Mario Andrada stated that organizers had planned to move the Olympic cauldron to a public location near the Port of Rio de Janeiro following the opening ceremony, most likely near the Candelária Church, rather than have it in one of the main stadiums. This move would be similar to that of the 2010 Winter Olympics, where the official cauldron was located outside the Vancouver Convention Centre but lit in a separate ceremony that immediately followed the conclusion of the opening ceremony proper, which took place in a domed, indoor stadium that would have inhibited public viewing. Mayor of Rio Eduardo Paes expressed a desire for the cauldron to be placed closer to the "heart" of the port, which had been revitalized as a legacy project for the Games.

Katy Perry - Rise

Early estimates indicated that at least 100 heads of state or government were planning to attend the opening ceremony. However, some foreign leaders have been slow to commit to their attendance because of the ongoing political issues and other issues affecting the Games.

Despite occurring in a location that is only one hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone (where the ceremony will begin at 7:00 p.m. ET), NBC confirmed that it would continue its practice of tape delaying the opening ceremony broadcast for the United States audience, citing a need to provide "context" for its contents; the broadcast will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, resulting in the ceremony airing on a one-hour delay on the east coast, and a four-hour delay on the west. Canadian broadcaster CBC mocked NBC's decision on Twitter, pointing out that it will broadcast the ceremony live^.. NBC had also made a request to the IOC for the Parade of Nations to be conducted in English alphabetical order rather than Portuguese, stating that it would affect viewership if the U.S. team, referred to as "Estados Unidos" in Portuguese, entered too soon. The IOC denied this change, as it runs contrary to the requirement that countries enter in the alphabetical order of the language of the host country. BBC will also show the opening ceremony with live coverage beginning at 11:40pm BST.